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It was a joke of a match...hey Gambit (aka M5), Blaze have been versing the wombo combo of MF-Amumu-Sona-Kayle ALL WINTER...of course they know how to counter it. AND you let them take Kha'zix...And you lost every red buff....what has happened to these guys? They used to be aggressive and putting people under constant pressure. Now they just let other teams, especially the Asian ones, brute them out of the match.

It was a joke of a match...hey Gambit (aka M5), Blaze have been versing the wombo combo of MF-Amumu-Sona-Kayle ALL WINTER...of course they know how to counter it. AND you let them take Kha'zix...And you lost every red buff....what has happened to these guys? They used to be aggressive and putting people under constant pressure. Now they just let other teams, especially the Asian ones, brute them out of the match.

True, they've been but a shadow of their former shape for quite some time now.

If anyone is up to contest the Korean domination in this tournament it has to be fnatic imo, maybe Curse as they've probably been training their asses off for the S3 US qualifier. SK might be a black horse with a lot of potential here if they've been training very hard these past months after the finals.

Edit: And after Day 1 matches are done, Azubu Blaze were 3-0 and the other teams were all 1-2. The other team progressing was...Gambit Gaming, after they beat Meet Your Makers. The indication from the referees and from Alex Ich was that they scraped through by only 1-2 mins. The cut-off point was Gambit had to win in about 27 mins or less. They barely pulled it off. So the expected teams go through, but Gambit aren't pacesetters in Europe anymore and the Asian teams are just beginning to surge further ahead. And with the zone restrictions come Season 3, that gap could really widen...

Curse were down their usual mid - they rallied against Gambit and lasted the longest against Blaze. If Nyjacky was there, I think they would have been the ones to progress.

Gambit - I have nfi what the deal is with them. Alex says they are no longer aggressive. Well...I don't think it;s doing them much good. The lack of a gaming house and regular group training is hurting them.

Blaze is practice hardened from a very intense OGN and their narrow loss to Frost in the semis. Blaze were always going to rip that group apart.

Group B has some mystery. You expect Fnatic to be very competitive but having to cull Rekkles and take in Yellowstar - they may not be fully cohesive yet. SK Gaming have been in secret scrimming for months and their opponents say they have significantly improved, particularly in the jungle. Absolute Legends are steady improvers but who knows how they'll do. And Azubu Frost - they're in ominous form. But they have Woong - and Woong tends to make catastrophic blunders regularly. That are salvaged by the fact Madlife, Cloudtemplar and Shy are so win.

When there is a tie breaker in group stages, the fastest win time taken for matches played by the tied teams is taken into account. Whatever the formula was, Gambit/M5 were told they had to win in 27 mins or less and that Azubu had to beat Curse for them to advance. They just managed to pull it off.

When there is a tie breaker in group stages, the fastest win time taken for matches played by the tied teams is taken into account. Whatever the formula was, Gambit/M5 were told they had to win in 27 mins or less and that Azubu had to beat Curse for them to advance. They just managed to pull it off.

Wow that's somewhat impressing considering they were 0-2 prior to that, I hope they fair better in the best of 3 parts.